a) Field of the Disclosure
The invention relates to an apparatus and method for teaching involving mathematical teaching aids and teaching manipulatives.
b) Background Art
Teaching manipulatives and specifically teaching manipulatives to be utilized in teaching elementary school students mathematics are common in the art of teaching. Many of these prior art devices are comprised of a number of very small elements which are easily lost, and for some students very difficult to manipulate. This causes great difficulty with teachers who are not only trying to teach but are also trying to maintain discipline within the classroom and keep a tidy teaching environment. One of the prior art references, U.S. Pat. No. 5,149,269 discloses a rod having individual callers thereon wherein each fifth caller is colored to readily display groups of five elements. Numbers are marked on the rod so that by manipulating the elements from the right most portions to the leftmost portion, a physical representation of arithmetic functions are demonstrated for a student who is following along with the teacher. In the description of the preferred embodiments, a very detailed method for using this apparatus to illustrate addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division is disclosed in the reference.
A great many more mathematical teaching aids have been patented or disclosed. Each has encountered its own level of success, but teachers are still looking for better teaching methods and manipulatives.